The Watertown City Council recently voted on two topics regarding the ethics hearing about a complaint that Councilor Cliff Olney allegedly made private information public when the city was buying the Watertown Golf Club.
The first vote was for the city to hire legal counsel to represent the city in the hearing as its current legal representation recused itself as it was named in the ethics complaint. The council voted to hire the Syracuse-based law firm Hancock Estabrook at $270 an hour to represent the city and the four other councilors in the hearing.
Olney had put his own item on the agenda requesting the city hire legal representation for himself. Olney said the vote on legal representation could lead to a slippery slope.
“This could result in a climate of fear where elected officials are hesitant to make decisions or make or take action," Olney said. "That might be scrutinized knowing that they could face financial ruin in their defense. Politically motivated complaints could become a weapon of opponents leading to a council that is less effective and less representative of the public's interest ”
Olney was asked to recuse himself from the vote but he chose not to. Olney’s proposal failed to pass by a 3 — 2 vote. Councilor Lisa Ruggiero and Olney were the two yes votes.
Council Member Ben Schoen was one of the councilors who voted against the city providing an attorney for Olney.
“If an employer is charging an employee with some sort of malfeasance in no business will the employer ever cover the employee's legal defense if they're being charged with wrongdoing against the employer," Schoen said. "It just doesn't make logical sense.”
Following the hearing, the council could eventually decide to remove Olney from council, censure him, or do nothing.
